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NEW CITY, N.Y. – Sometimes, it takes a while to figure out what your next career move should be.

And sometimes all it takes for your "aha" moment is to bite into something delicious -- and know you can replicate it better -- and healthier.

Such is the story behind
GeeFree
, a gluten-free food company in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. co-founded by New City resident Susan Hougui.

Hougui, a longtime food consultant for various Fortune 500 companies, always knew there was an opportunity for better tasting gluten-free products -- she had worked on a low carb project years ago and saw an opportunity but wasn't quite sure what "it" was.

She even had a partner in mind for her would-be company -- a master baker she had met at another co-packer years before.

"Steven Levya (owner of
Sugarflake Bakeries
with locations throughout Bergen) he and I always talked about going into business together -- we just had to find something worthy," she said.

Hougui's "aha" moment came on a trip to Israel where she found a delicious gluten-free pastry dough.

"It wasn't all natural and there were some issues with it, but I figured there's nothing like that in the U.S. So I called Steven and said 'I found it!'

"Long story short, we reverse-engineered the ingredients, made it productionable, all natural and much better tasting. That brings us to where we are today."

GeeFree, which the two started in 2013, is now poised for major expansion. The company presently produces Franks in a Blanket, Spanakopita, Chicken Pot Pie, Cheeseburger Bites and raw pastry dough to utilize in one's own recipes. (Products are manufactured and co-packed in Northvale.) All products are sold in the frozen foods section of select grocery and health food stores in the tristate area as well as in 40 other states.

Thanks to a major capital investment by Procida Funding & Advisors, LLC, sales and distribution are going full blast.

Procida enlisted veteran business executive and health/fitness devotee Michael Getoff to join the GeeFree team as Chief Operating Officer. Getoff has been overseeing the company's efforts to place GeeFree with supermarkets, specialty stores, restaurants, e-commerce sites, club stores and caterers across the country.